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The Starlight Club #2
The Contenders
Red Fortunato’s Starlight Club in Queens is back, still teeming with mobsters and their “business” each night. Trenchie, Tarzan and Moose have returned. The Genovese family and others hang out amidst the grandeur of Red’s renovated baby – the Grand Ballroom. Columbia Pictures studio head, Larry Bernstein, is being blackmailed. “He knew that once any money had been exchanged, that this would not prevent any future demands. These people were nuts and nuts meant dangerous. There was no one in Hollywood he could trust. This was a gossip columnist’s dream scoop” that could ruin the studio. Big Red eagerly offers assistance, on his terms, with a caveat – a piece of Hollywood, and Swifty, the son he never had, is his ticket in the boxing ring and in glamour city. “Red was what some in the neighborhood called a ‘benevolent dictator.’ His neighbors loved him and his enemies knew he was the boss of a crime family that numbered a thousand men or more. It was just a given that no crime would take place in Red’s territory. The outcome was a reprisal called ‘the wrath of the Red Head’.” Too bad no one told the power hungry Detroit capo. He violated the “rules.” The phone was reminiscent of the red phone that led right to the White House. The council’s decision would stand. “The chief tapped the fingers of both hands twice. That was the signal” to Red that it was okay to proceed with justice – mob style. “The car moved slowly ahead until it reached a huge yellow machine. It was the car crusher. Reilly and his men instantly knew their fate. There were whimpers from inside the car, grown men pleading, pleading for their lives, begging for mercy.”
202 pages, Paperback
First published August 11, 2012
About the author
Joe Corso
126 books42 followersKoren Veteran, FDNY Retired, I grew up in Queens,New York and my motivation to write came from my wish to help my grandchildren pay for their college education. So far I've completed 16 books and 9 short stories including my popular 'ENGINE 24 FIRE STORIES' trilogy and I've just finished the 5th installment in the 'TIME PORTAL' series as well as LAFITTE'S TREASURE which is presently being edited.
THE STARLIGHT CLUB 5: The Nazi has been published. I'm in the process of writing a sequel to my award winning western 'THE ADVENTURES OF THE LONE JACK KID', titled 'THE RETURN OF THE LONE JACK KID'.
THE STARLIGHT CLUB 5: The Nazi has been published. I'm in the process of writing a sequel to my award winning western 'THE ADVENTURES OF THE LONE JACK KID', titled 'THE RETURN OF THE LONE JACK KID'.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 23, 2019
Loved it...
I love this series. Now to find the third book. I feel as if I know the characters. This series captured me from the first page of book 1
I love this series. Now to find the third book. I feel as if I know the characters. This series captured me from the first page of book 1
April 4, 2024
Good read
I enjoyed reading about a young man whose life became a success yet didn't let it change his humble
character.
I enjoyed reading about a young man whose life became a success yet didn't let it change his humble
character.
July 16, 2013
I find it difficult to review this book, because there is a lot I like about it, but there are also enormous problems with it. Most of the problems could have been fixed if the editor had done his or her job.
This represents the second installment of Joe Corso's series on The Starlight Club, set in the early 1960s in the Queens district of New York, among the mafia families. This is a world I know next to nothing about, and Joe intrigues me and draws me in. The characters he creates and the stories he tells have, for the most part, a ring of truth about them. In some ways I think this book is better written than the first. The writing is of better quality. Corso is much more at home writing in this world and in this genre than he has been in some of this other books.
Again the story is told within the framework of a contemporary prologue and epilogue, in which Bobby Valentine relates these stories to his daughter. For the first third or so of the novel, the story appears to be told more clearly in Bobby's voice than was the case with the first novel. I liked this. However, this seems to fade away as the novel progresses. This is typical of the kind of issue that a good editor would have addressed. For a while the novel seems to consist of a series of anecdotes, but slowly settles down into two main stories, that of the Detroit mafia seeking to break into Red's Queens territory; and that of the young boxer Swifty: his gradual success in the boxing world and his immediate success after he is introduced to Hollywood. The characters are reasonably well-developed, although the minor characters tend to blur together. The female characters are not as well drawn - but then, this is clearly a man's world.
As in the previous novel, the fight and execution scenes stand out as the best written parts of the book. The scene where the mafia mediator comes to mediate between the leaders of two families, and the aftermath of that, I found riveting.
On the down side, the plot concerning Swifty is much too similar to that of Jimmy the Hat in the first book, although the author does make a reasonable attempt to differentiate between their characters. There are also several plot details that I felt did not work. I thought that the chapters could possibly have been arranged slightly differently, in order to facilitate the telling of the two main story threads. There also seemed to me to be some inconsistencies in the time line. These are all editorial issues which should have been sorted out before publication. Add to this the enormous number of typographical errors!
I really enjoy the world that the author creates for the reader. He shows more talent in this book as a writer. However, themes and stories from the previous book are repeated here too often. Most of all, his editor has seriously let him down. Despite the positive features of this book, it is nowhere near ready for publication. It will take more than the correction of the typos to bring this book up to standard. It requires some major re-editing. I give it three stars.
This represents the second installment of Joe Corso's series on The Starlight Club, set in the early 1960s in the Queens district of New York, among the mafia families. This is a world I know next to nothing about, and Joe intrigues me and draws me in. The characters he creates and the stories he tells have, for the most part, a ring of truth about them. In some ways I think this book is better written than the first. The writing is of better quality. Corso is much more at home writing in this world and in this genre than he has been in some of this other books.
Again the story is told within the framework of a contemporary prologue and epilogue, in which Bobby Valentine relates these stories to his daughter. For the first third or so of the novel, the story appears to be told more clearly in Bobby's voice than was the case with the first novel. I liked this. However, this seems to fade away as the novel progresses. This is typical of the kind of issue that a good editor would have addressed. For a while the novel seems to consist of a series of anecdotes, but slowly settles down into two main stories, that of the Detroit mafia seeking to break into Red's Queens territory; and that of the young boxer Swifty: his gradual success in the boxing world and his immediate success after he is introduced to Hollywood. The characters are reasonably well-developed, although the minor characters tend to blur together. The female characters are not as well drawn - but then, this is clearly a man's world.
As in the previous novel, the fight and execution scenes stand out as the best written parts of the book. The scene where the mafia mediator comes to mediate between the leaders of two families, and the aftermath of that, I found riveting.
On the down side, the plot concerning Swifty is much too similar to that of Jimmy the Hat in the first book, although the author does make a reasonable attempt to differentiate between their characters. There are also several plot details that I felt did not work. I thought that the chapters could possibly have been arranged slightly differently, in order to facilitate the telling of the two main story threads. There also seemed to me to be some inconsistencies in the time line. These are all editorial issues which should have been sorted out before publication. Add to this the enormous number of typographical errors!
I really enjoy the world that the author creates for the reader. He shows more talent in this book as a writer. However, themes and stories from the previous book are repeated here too often. Most of all, his editor has seriously let him down. Despite the positive features of this book, it is nowhere near ready for publication. It will take more than the correction of the typos to bring this book up to standard. It requires some major re-editing. I give it three stars.
October 8, 2012
When I was growing up in Corona, Queens in New York one of my friends was a young fighter who had once trained with Rocky Marciano. After Rocky had retired from the ring he called Swifty (not his real name) and asked if he'd consider fighting for him but Swifty was all mobbed up and could only fight for the boys. It was a shame because I truly believe he could have been a champ someday himself. I based the character of Swifty on my friend.
Swifty fought a classy latin fighter by the name of Johnny Torres to a draw twice and Torres went on to fight for the middleweight championship of the world. In this book I had them fight 3 draws. There was also another real tough Corona heavyweight fighter worth mentioning because of a little incident that happened 1954 during our induction into the army at 39 Whitehall Street in in Manhattan. While we weren't close friends we knew each other from the neighborhood.
We were in the process of being examined by doctors prior to being sent to Fort Dix for basic training. Hundreds of young men were shivering, standing in line naked in a very large room getting a series of very annoying shots. The fighter who I'll call Gonzo (not his real name) was in line in front of me and the way he was fidgeting I knew he was nervous. As the line shortened and we got closer to the Sargeant giving the shots he turned to me with a worried look on his face and whispered to me. "Look Joe I don't want to embarrass myself in front of all these guys. If I pass out I want you to catch me, understand?" I told him, "don't worry about it, I have your back." That seemed to relax him a little. but I had to laugh because here was this real tough guy who wouldn't think twice about fighting three guys in an alley and here he was afraid of a little needle. Go figure. But I liked the idea of a heavyweight fighter in the story so I named him Gonzo. and I included this incident in the book.
In the first Starlight Club book I gave Swifty a paragraph but in the following books he plays a major role. I know that Swifty who passed away many years ago would have liked that.
Swifty fought a classy latin fighter by the name of Johnny Torres to a draw twice and Torres went on to fight for the middleweight championship of the world. In this book I had them fight 3 draws. There was also another real tough Corona heavyweight fighter worth mentioning because of a little incident that happened 1954 during our induction into the army at 39 Whitehall Street in in Manhattan. While we weren't close friends we knew each other from the neighborhood.
We were in the process of being examined by doctors prior to being sent to Fort Dix for basic training. Hundreds of young men were shivering, standing in line naked in a very large room getting a series of very annoying shots. The fighter who I'll call Gonzo (not his real name) was in line in front of me and the way he was fidgeting I knew he was nervous. As the line shortened and we got closer to the Sargeant giving the shots he turned to me with a worried look on his face and whispered to me. "Look Joe I don't want to embarrass myself in front of all these guys. If I pass out I want you to catch me, understand?" I told him, "don't worry about it, I have your back." That seemed to relax him a little. but I had to laugh because here was this real tough guy who wouldn't think twice about fighting three guys in an alley and here he was afraid of a little needle. Go figure. But I liked the idea of a heavyweight fighter in the story so I named him Gonzo. and I included this incident in the book.
In the first Starlight Club book I gave Swifty a paragraph but in the following books he plays a major role. I know that Swifty who passed away many years ago would have liked that.
May 4, 2015
After reading, The Starlight Club book 1, and really enjoyed reading it, I had to get Joe Corso's next book, The Starlight Club book 2, and I wasn't disappointed. It starts where Bobbys daughter Lynn, wants to hear more of her fathers memorable stories, so Bobby goes back in time. and starts to romanises about the Starlight Club owner Red an all the gang. There is so much going on in this story. only a small part can be told, so here goes. Trenchie is now married and has a baby, and a lot of new characters have been brought into the story. Red has 3 more members of his gang who are Boxers, Swifty, Shooter, Gonzo, 2 light weight and 1 heavy weight. and decides to manage them so he will boxing champions, and also decides to go into the movie business, so he sents Swifty, to be an in the movie game, like he did Jimmy the hat, well things went ok for a while, then things go wrong so Red send the gang to sort it out. As Red doesn't like what's going on. There are many twists and turns, so I will leave it there, so if you want to find out what happens next. you will have to buy the book.
May 1, 2013
The highly recommended action packed sequel.
When Robert ‘Bobby’ Valentine’s daughter Lynn asks him for more stories about The Starlight Club, how can he refuse? As Bobby recounts his memories of this time in his life and Queens in the early 60’s, the reader is treated to a glimpse of what life was like then, the Mafia’s influence, intrigue, boxing and the film industry.
This story is action packed and contains ruthless violence but as always, there are good ‘bad’ guys, and bad ‘bad’ guys. It can stand alone or continue seamlessly on from The Starlight Club I, as it features the same wonderful characters, but in Volume II the author has added many new.
At the end of this brilliant story, there seems to be a psychological tension building similar to that of Alfred Hitchcock, with a host of intrigue and Trenchie facing the greatest challenge of his life.
Un-put-down-able, I read this in one session and can’t wait for volume III!
When Robert ‘Bobby’ Valentine’s daughter Lynn asks him for more stories about The Starlight Club, how can he refuse? As Bobby recounts his memories of this time in his life and Queens in the early 60’s, the reader is treated to a glimpse of what life was like then, the Mafia’s influence, intrigue, boxing and the film industry.
This story is action packed and contains ruthless violence but as always, there are good ‘bad’ guys, and bad ‘bad’ guys. It can stand alone or continue seamlessly on from The Starlight Club I, as it features the same wonderful characters, but in Volume II the author has added many new.
At the end of this brilliant story, there seems to be a psychological tension building similar to that of Alfred Hitchcock, with a host of intrigue and Trenchie facing the greatest challenge of his life.
Un-put-down-able, I read this in one session and can’t wait for volume III!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews